What is impaired ability to recall events that occur after taking benzodiazepines?

• A. Anterograde amnesia
• B. Retrograde amnesia
• C. Anterograde dysana
• D. Prograde amnesia

Answer: (A)

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form or encode new memories after the drug is taken. Benzodiazepines enhance GABA-A receptor activity, increasing inhibitory signaling in memory-forming brain regions like the hippocampus. This disruption of encoding means events that occur while the drug is active aren’t stored as new memories, so recall of those events is impaired. Memory for information or events before taking the drug is usually intact, which differentiates this from retrograde amnesia. The other terms aren’t standard or describe different issues, so the best description for recalling events after benzodiazepines is anterograde amnesia.